


The Power Exchange

by SirensSong



Series: The Power Exchange [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alpha Arthur, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, BDSM, Butt Plugs, Cock Rings, Dom/sub, Dominant Merlin, Edgeplay, M/M, Omega Merlin, Omegaverse, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Prostate Massage, Restraints, Semi-public Sex Kinda, Sex Toys, Sounding, Submissive Arthur, Vibrating wand, Whipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-12 06:05:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5655178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirensSong/pseuds/SirensSong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one in which A/B/O universe meets BDSM and dynamics get turned on their heads. </p><p> </p><p>  <em>When the first strike came, it burned like a brand across his ass and pulled a shocked shout from Arthur. </em></p>
            </blockquote>





	The Power Exchange

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by RottenRice, and as always, lots of love for that. And also lots of love for providing the lovely description of subspace that kicks off the story!
> 
> DISCLAIMER: This is by no means meant to act as any sort of instruction manual for how BDSM works. Please please please for the love of whatever deity or deities you hold in esteem, do not attempt to do this stuff without being formally trained. No matter how good your intentions are, an untrained hand is going to slip up and you will end up hurting your partner, and even if you manage not to, you won't be able to provide proper aftercare and both subdrop and Domdrop are dangerous. Merlin and Arthur are both trained in this fic.

_It’s like being wrapped up in warm water. Everything is muffled and sort of disconnected but it’s not scary, you know you’re safe and for that little bit of time everything is perfect. But it doesn’t really feel like a little bit of time, it feels like it stretches for hours and you don’t care because it’s warm and safe even if you aren’t someplace where it really is warm. You don’t ever want to leave and for a while you don’t have to, you can just be as you are, whole and loved and perfect. Floating completely alone except for the one person keeping you from being lost in what should be perfection but could so easily be terror as well, but it’s okay they want you there and you can enjoy it because of them. You can just be, and it’s amazing._

 

~.~

There was another knock on the door, and Arthur let himself cringe, barely resisting the urge to slam his head into the heavy desk. If one more person fucked up today and caused some mess he was going to have to clean up, he was going to kill someone. Or himself. It would depend on the situation.

He never would have guessed, when he was still working under his father, how much bullshit the CEO had to deal with some days. Uther had usually just lounged around in his office, glared at people, occasionally gave a lecture, and everything just seemed to fall into place around him. Arthur had very quickly learned that Uther had either been a phenomenal actor, or he’d just been far better at running the company than Arthur was now.

Either way, Uther was gone now and the chances of someone in the building dying that day were just getting higher and higher every time his phone rang or someone new knocked on the door.

“An Alpha always knows how to handle any problem with ease and charm, especially a Pendragon Alpha,” Arthur grumbled under his breath, tone mocking, before scoffing and sitting up straight in his chair again. It had been his father’s favorite thing to say to him whenever he faltered in any manner, and the words still haunted him even years after the man’s death. Gathering himself, he finally called, “Come in!” trying to prepare himself to fix whatever mess was next.

By the time he had finished fixing the nonsense caused by some head-strong, overly-confident Alpha intern who decided to go behind the backs up some of his higher-ups and take on something he shouldn’t have in an attempt to earn a promotion, Arthur was having trouble reminding himself that despite today, he liked his life too much to throw it away by committing murder. He hated days like this, though, the days that made him feel like there was some itch under his skin that was impossible to scratch, and started to burn if he left it long enough. It had a tendency to make him lash out at people that didn’t deserve it, which was a trait his father had also had, and one he always struggled with trying to break away from.

Mouth a thin line, Arthur leaned back in his chair and rubbed his hands over his face, then simply stared at the ceiling for a few moments before fishing his phone out. He didn’t usually text Merlin while he was at work, since his mate had a tendency to prove far too much of a distraction, but if he got home in this sort of mood without giving Merlin forewarning, he would have his hide for it. Probably literally. And not in the pleasant way.

 

Merlin’s replies were as quick as they usually were, but considering he spent most days at home, it wasn’t unexpected. There was really no reason for him to work when Arthur’s company brought in more than enough money, though Arthur certainly didn’t protest when he did. Merlin had a tendency to lend his services to their friends whenever they were shorthanded rather than working a steady job of his own.

He didn’t answer Merlin again, but put his phone away and set back to what he was supposed to be doing for another couple hours, hoping they wouldn’t drag by too much. Of course, the downside to knowing something would be waiting for him at home was that he started to focus on that instead, anticipating, which seemed to make time move that much slower.

Eventually, five o’clock rolled around. On a better day, Arthur might have stuck around after hours just to wrap everything up and make sure he would have an easier morning the next day, but now all he wanted was to get home. He did, thankfully, remember to stop at the store on the way home and pick up the requested milk, since if he’d forgotten after teasing Merlin about forgetting, it would just be turned around on him twofold.

When he did get home, stepping into the little house with a quiet sigh, it was only a few moments before Merlin’s arms were around his neck. Arthur let himself lean into Merlin’s kiss, relaxing a little bit just at being enveloped in the familiar scents of home and his mate. Merlin pulled away from it sooner than he liked, but Arthur’s protest was cut off before he even started it as Merlin’s hands drew over his shoulders, pulling something between them. Almost before he’d realized what it was Merlin had in his hands, the buckle of the leather collar had been secured, snug when he swallowed but not too tight, never too tight.

“Merlin,” he started, a bit surprised by how quickly they were apparently starting. Not that he was going to complain. Especially since Merlin merely arched an eyebrow at him when he spoke, his expression faintly annoyed. Swallowing, Arthur nodded shallowly, then dropped his gaze. He couldn’t see it, but Merlin’s expression immediately warmed again, and he could almost feel the approval coming from him.

“Good. We’re going to get you to relax, and then after that, we’ll sit together and have dinner,” Merlin said, finally speaking up. He reached out and took the grocery bag from Arthur, who loosened his grip on it without a fuss. “Go get undressed and lay down. I’ll be in shortly.”

“Yes,” Arthur agreed quietly, with none of the defiance that sometimes was present in the beginning of the scenes. He didn’t have the energy to fight tonight, and with how gentle and soft Merlin’s tone was when he spoke, he had obviously picked up on that. Merlin’s fingers brushed through his hair once, and then he had turned away, headed into the kitchen. Arthur stood still for a few moments, just breathing, before picking his head up again and moving upstairs into the master bedroom.

He stopped in the doorway, looking at the trunk that sat at the foot of the bed. There was a towel laid out over the top of it, an array of toys and tools spread out over the towel. Swallowing and trying to fight back the surge of arousal, he moved over to look at what Merlin had pulled out and cleaned for the evening. The blades were still tucked away, he was a little disappointed to see, but the set of sounds were out, as well as a bottle of massage oil. There was the smallest of the anal plugs out, but it was the one with the connecting metal ball that curved to press against the perineum, a few different cock rings, including the one that pressed in a painful way if the knot started to swell, a milking rod, and a mini hitachi wand.

On the bed, the wrist restraints had been attached to the headboard, which didn’t surprise Arthur in the least. That was the only thing he knew would be used on him, though. Merlin had a tendency to lay out far more than he was going to use, more often than not just to make Arthur anticipate something that wasn’t coming and keep him guessing about what would be next. It was a rare day when he was privy to whatever Merlin had planned for him.

If what was laid out was any true indication, Merlin was going to be focusing on his cock, which Arthur wasn’t going to protest. His back was still sore from the weekend so it was probably best to leave that area alone for another week or so.

Remembering himself, Arthur moved away from the foot of the bed and stripped his suit off slowly, methodically putting each piece away in the bag so it could be dropped off at the dry cleaners. His movements were lethargic, his mind drifting back to the tools laid out even as he reminded himself that if he wasn’t settled on the bed when Merlin came up, there would be some price to pay for it.

He needn’t have worried, because Merlin seemed to take ages to appear. Arthur hadn’t checked his phone for the time, but it felt like something close to forty-five minutes had passed before footsteps finally started up the stairs. It was probably far less time than that, but Arthur couldn’t quite bring himself to lay still, half-erect just from the waiting, and he knew that had been his mate’s intent in leaving him like he had.

When Merlin entered, he offered Arthur a sweet smile and laughed when he was met with a half-hearted glare. “What?” he asked. “I was finishing your dinner and wrapping it up so it would be all nice and warm when you’re ready to eat.” While Arthur watched him, still struggling with being completely still, Merlin stripped his shirt off and tossed it aside, clambering onto the bed with his tight jeans still on, swinging one leg over Arthur’s hips once he’d grabbed the bottle of massage oil. “First things first,” he said, talking as he uncapped it and started to rub some of the oil between his palms. “Can’t have you twisting about and hurting yourself in your cuffs. Let’s get some of those persistent little knots out of your shoulders so you’ll be nice and loose.” His voice dipped as he spoke, and Arthur’s eyes closed, just focusing on the low lilt of Merlin’s natural accent, augmented by the way he lowered his voice when they were playing.

Seated on Arthur’s hips, Merlin leaned down to run his hands over Arthur’s chest, unsurprised to find the knots back in all the usual places. Arthur carried all his stress in his shoulders, and no matter how often he worked them out, they would always come back, though this time was a bit faster than normal. Usually, Arthur could go at least a few days without being tense enough for them all to reappear. Merlin stuck mainly to the sides of Arthur’s neck and down around his collarbones for now. He did have Arthur sit up slightly so he could get to his shoulders properly, thumbs pressing into the tendon that ran from his neck down to the shoulder blade to get it to loosen a little bit. He would offer a longer, fuller massage afterward, to make sure nothing had pulled thanks to the restraints; the light one now was more a precaution than anything else. Once Merlin was satisfied that Arthur wasn’t going to suffer any damage to his shoulders even if he struggled a good deal more than Merlin expected, he wiped his hands on a stray towel he had set over to the side and hummed quietly to him.

“Let’s get you into these now,” he said, watching as Arthur’s eyes flickered open again, the deep blue almost invisible under how widely blow the pupils of his eyes were, and though Arthur was obviously looking at him, Merlin could see that it took a few moments for his words to process and smiled to himself. The quick massage also worked wonderfully to get Arthur to relax into the initial phase of his headspace, when he wasn’t in a mood to fight. It always left Arthur so soft and, according to him, sort of hazy, but it was endearing to watch him fight to be aware and respond, as reluctant as he always seemed to be to come out of it even enough to answer.

The cuffs were a padded leather, and Merlin ran his hand up Arthur’s left arm first to get him to draw his hand up above his head. The cuff wrapped around his wrist and then buckled in the same way the collar did. Once he was satisfied that it was in the right hole, Merlin did the same thing with Arthur’s other wrist, testing the tightness of both just in case. “Arthur,” he said, voice a little more firm. “Tug a bit, shift if you need to. All good?”

Though the movement was sluggish, Arthur pulled down with both arms, then twisted his hands in the cuffs, fingers flexing a few times, before he wriggled to shift up the bed a little, so his arms were bent a bit more when he relaxed. Once there, he went through the process again at Merlin’s prompting, and finally nodded. “Good,” he said, voice raspier than normal, and Merlin nodded, smoothing his hair off his forehead.

“Good,” he mimicked, and leaned down to press a feather-light kiss to the corner of Arthur’s lips. He moved then, getting off the bed to study everything he had laid out on the trunk. Arthur watched him as he moved, eyes barely open but paying attention nevertheless, watching the shift in the way Merlin moved. The tenderness was gone now, the preparation complete, so there was more purpose in Merlin’s movements, a little faster and sharper. He picked up a handful of the tools and then moved back to the bed, though he sat on the side of it next to Arthur this time, rather than sitting on top of him.

The sound of surprise when he leaned over and started to suckle on the head of Arthur’s cock had Merlin smiling around him, letting his own eyes close for a few moments, enjoying the feeling of Arthur swelling in his mouth. Even when they weren’t doing a scene and he was on his knees for his Alpha, he would always love sucking Arthur erect. It didn’t take long, but then, it never did, and Merlin was almost reluctant to stop once Arthur was completely hard under his hand. He had a plan, though, and he wasn’t going to deviate from it unless Arthur safeworded. Which he highly doubted would happen, since nothing was new tonight, at least none of the tools were new. He supposed some of the combinations might be. Regardless, he sat back up once Arthur was fully hard and picked up his personal favorite of all their cock rings. The adjustable screws made it so easy to get the perfect fit, and it was always fun to watch Arthur squirm when his knot couldn’t form.

Arthur’s eyes had widened slightly at the sight of the cock ring, and if possible, his pupils had blown even wider. He was still in that first phase of his headspace, and Merlin just offered him a smile as he slipped the ring on and clicked the lock into place, twirling the hex key around his fingers. He wouldn’t be in that hazy first phase of it for very long once everything was in place and they really got started.

With a practiced hand, Merlin adjusted each of the screws in the ring until they were just tight enough, nothing but a dull pressure at the moment, but much more painful if Arthur’s knot started to swell and pressed his sensitive flesh into the prodding, blunted screws. Arthur groaned a few times in the process, and Merlin merely patted one of his thighs, curving his fingers so his nails scratched lightly over his skin every once in a while.

The next bit involved a bit more lube, and Merlin shifted to settle between Arthur’s legs, forcing him to hold them apart by spreading his own along the insides of Arthur’s thighs. “Tilt up a bit for me,” he instructed, voice sharper than it had been previously, more authoritative, and Arthur responded faster to it, hips lifting obediently.

With slick fingers, Merlin started to play with Arthur’s asshole, just teasing, and watched with a smirk as Arthur rallied a little, instinct flaring up and telling him that was not a place an Alpha should be touched. For the longest time, Arthur hadn’t been able to stomach being touched there, too much conditioning from society and his father keeping him from allowing himself to enjoy something he’d always known he would enjoy. Even now, years later, there was always an initial resistance to it before Arthur forced himself to remember it was all right to enjoy having his hole played with. For a moment, Arthur was tense, his gaze sharper and more aware again. Merlin pressed one finger inside, just up to the first knuckle, and Arthur huffed out a breath and relaxed again, eyes slipping closed completely. “There we go,” Merlin praised, tone warm. “My gorgeous Alpha. Let me open you.”

The plug he’d picked out was the smallest one they owned, and required minimal preparation. Merlin worked until he could easily twist in two of his fingers and Arthur was slick with lube before he plucked the toy off the bed and spread lube over it. There was no resistance when he pressed it inside Arthur; it settled easily, and Arthur whined high in his throat as the connecting ball pressed up into his perineum, moving and providing stimulation every time he so much as shifted his hips. And Merlin planned on making sure his hips never stopped moving.

With both the cock ring, or as Merlin affectionately referred to it, the ‘knot stopper’, and the plug in place, he picked up his third toy. The mini hitachi wand was nowhere near as powerful as the full-sized one he had left in its place inside the trunk, but Arthur was too sensitive for the more powerful one, especially in spots like his perineum. That one was more for Merlin’s personal use than for when they played or scened.

Taking advantage of the fact that Arthur’s eyes were still closed, breathing a bit faster than normal, Merlin pressed the head of the vibe against the underside of the cock ring and then flicked it on. Arthur’s reaction was immediate; his eyes snapped open as his hips twitched upward, trying to get away from the vibrations traveling through the metal of the ring, the muscles in his arms flexing as well as he pulled against the cuffs that bound him to the headboard.

“Oh, yes,” Merlin said, keeping the head of the wand pressed against the cock ring with a skilled hand even as Arthur twisted to try and get away from it. It was beautiful to watch his big, strong Alpha thrash in the bed for a few minutes, as each movement shifted the plug inside him and the ball against his perineum, until eventually he whined, long and low, and slumped back into the bed, still twitching and panting but done fighting. “That’s it,” Merlin soothed once he had settled, dragging the nails of his free hand down the inside of Arthur’s thigh and causing him to jerk again.

“Fucking- that’s-” Arthur started, and Merlin grinned up at him. Arthur’s pupils were still blown wide, but the awareness was back in his gaze, and he was openly glaring down his body at Merlin. “Too much, christ, too much,” he continued, once he’d managed to find the words, but Merlin merely shook his head. He backed off on the vibe for a moment, lowering the vibration, and Arthur relaxed a little bit. It was short-lived, however, as Merlin just shifted his hand down, angling the wand beneath Arthur’s balls, and upped the vibration again as he pressed it to the base of the metal plug.

This was why he loved metal devices so much; the vibrations traveled through them so wonderfully. A strangled noise escaped Arthur and he started thrashing again, trying even harder to get away from the sensation. It was so lovely to watch; Arthur would manage to get the plug off his prostate just for the connecting ball to press meanly up behind his balls, and shifting the pressure off that spot put it back onto his prostate. There was no way for him to win, and Merlin had to press the palm of his free hand against the front of his jeans as he watched Arthur twist and turn, making wonderful noises of frustration and pleasure.

Before long, Arthur’s cock was practically dripping, his noises becoming more and more desperate. Merlin switched back to pressing the vibe against the cock ring for a few moments. “Want me to stop?” he asked.

“Yes!” Arthur panted, and Merlin upped the vibration to as high as the mini vibe could manage in response.

“Ask me nicely, then,” Merlin prompted, offering a sweet smile when Arthur glared at him. This was his favorite stage of Arthur’s headspace, when he back-talked and disobeyed and often pushed Merlin until he had no choice but to deal out a proper punishment. He was going to keep Arthur in it for a little while, but he knew before they were finished he would have Arthur slipping to the almost-comatose level of his headspace, the deepest stage of it.

“Please,” Arthur was begging now, and it was music to Merlin’s ears. “Please, Omega, please!” Arthur’s voice rose in a tell-tale fashion, and satisfied, Merlin flicked the wand off and watched as for a moment, Arthur thrashed harder, biceps straining as he fought against the restraints, no doubt desperate to get a hand around his cock and pull himself off. Merlin was intimately familiar with Arthur’s body, and he had flipped off the wand just as Arthur’s knot had started to try to swell, and the combination of the sudden lack of vibrations and the cock ring digging into him had shut down the orgasm that had started to build up.

And it was only the first time of many.

“Fucking… bastard,” Arthur panted, once he started to settle again, muscles very slowly unclenching as he was able to relax a little.

“Well of course, love,” Merlin more or less cooed, rubbing his hands up and down Arthur’s thighs while he waited for him to come down a little bit. He would be ruining all the fun if he accidentally pushed Arthur too far and he came before Merlin wanted him to. “Now breathe. We’re not nearly done yet.” His voice was sharp again, and Arthur let himself give into it, closing his eyes and focusing on breathing in and out steadily, slowly, until he was relaxed again and the denial of his orgasm didn’t hurt so much.

Merlin watched until Arthur was lazy under his hands again. His poor cock was the only part of him that didn’t seem to have accepted the halted orgasm, so Merlin leaned down and pressed a kiss to the tip of it before moving away to fetch his next set of toys. He crawled to the edge of the bed rather than getting off, leaning over the footboard and grabbing what he wanted. He settled between Arthur’s legs again then, resisting the urge to lean down and lick up the precum that had leaked down the side of his cock

“There now. Ready to keep going?” Merlin asked. Arthur had slipped back into the haziness as he’d waited, but he nodded after rolling his shoulders, and Merlin smiled, proud of Arthur for doing the test without needing to be reminded, even in the middle of a scene. “All right,” Merlin said, fingers going back to tug at the base of the plug. Initially, Arthur tightened up on it when Merlin pulled, his body reluctant to let it go, but Merlin was able to pull it free after a few moments with a quiet, sticky noise, the lube stretching between the plug and Arthur’s hole. Arthur’s sigh of relief at not being caught between the two different, intense sensations was short lived as Merlin slicked up the milking rod with lube and eased it inside as soon as he had set the plug aside on the towel he was using to wipe his hands free of lube.

Merlin only teased Arthur’s prostate with the milker for a few moments before letting it sit still. The next bit required all of his attention, and was the part that could possibly cause Arthur to pull out his safeword. It was, after all, one of the newer things added to their repertoire of kinks and some nights it went better than others. The pack came with eight different sounds, but they had only ever used to slimmest two. Merlin had the slimmest of them all in his hand now, and though Arthur was still slowly oozing precum, it was nowhere near enough to take the sound without any pain. Holding the sound up, freshly sterilized right before Arthur had returned home, Merlin let the lube slide down the metal rod, twirling it as he did so it covered the whole length of it, and then took Arthur’s cock in his other hand to pull it entirely upright, not curving toward his stomach.

“Arthur, look at me,” Merlin said, since Arthur’s eyes were still closed and using the sound was still something he didn’t do without warning Arthur first, giving him a chance to back out. Arthur’s gaze flickered open slowly, focusing first on Merlin’s face, then flickering down to the sound he was holding as the lube dripped off it and landed on the head of his cock. Arthur’s prick twitched in response, which Merlin took as a good sign, and after watching Arthur swallow and nod shallowly, he pressed the tapered tip of the sound to his slit and pressed very gently.

He didn’t push hard, barely pushed it all, and instead let gravity and Arthur’s body do most of the work as the sound slowly, tiny movement by tiny movement, slid down as Merlin liberally applied more lube to it. One it was about halfway down, he slowly pulled it back up, covered the entire length in lube again, and let it slide back into place and continue moving down. Eventually, after what seemed ages and two more rounds of pulling it out to re-coat it, the sound was settled into place, the little flat piece separating the sound from the handle resting on top of Arthur’s cock, preventing it from slipping down any farther. By that time, Arthur had let his head fall back onto the pillow, his eyes tightly closed and a light, tense arch to his neck and back.

Merlin paused there again, going back to rubbing his hands up and down Arthur’s thighs, without his nails this time, just giving him a few minutes to adjust to the intrusion of the sound. Eventually, the tense line of his body gave way to him panting quietly, no longer straining to reject the sound, and Merlin leaned down to pepper kisses to his hips, pausing to suck a mark into the crook of one hip. “You’re so good, Arthur,” he murmured as he did, sliding his hands up and down Arthur’s sides and back to his thighs. “So fucking good for me. I’m going to make you feel so good now.”

Finally, content that Arthur was all right with the sound and not in any distress or pain, Merlin shifted back to sitting so he could move both the sound and the prostate milker at the same time. With both tools, he was just about managing to massage Arthur’s prostate from both sides, though the sound he was using currently wasn’t built specifically for prostate massages. There was one in the set that was, but it was currently still too thick for Arthur, so for now he did what he could with one that wasn’t built for it specifically but still managed to do a half-decent job of it.

With both tools, he moved slowly, only gently easing the sound up and down in little increments. As Arthur relaxed into it, he sped up the prostate milker, rubbing it in tight, fast circles and watching as Arthur’s hips shifted up and down restlessly, fucking himself between the sound and the prostate milker. The more he got into it, the more Merlin let him do the work, keeping both his hands still and just letting Arthur work himself up to another crest. They still weren’t done, though, and when Arthur started to make little noises with each upward thrust of his hips, Merlin let go of the sound in favor of pinning his hips to the bed, tilting the prostate massager down so it wouldn’t touch his prostate.

Arthur shouted and thrashed again at the second denied orgasm, and Merlin simply grinned as he watched him, even more desperate than the first time. There was probably an edge of pain to it as well this time, but that would only add to the pleasurable torture of it for Arthur. It also took longer for him to relax again, breathing heavily with his teeth gritted together. Merlin soothed him through it, going back to peppering kisses to his thighs, shaking now, until his breathing had steadied some. He didn’t give him a chance to settle all the way, though, and soon enough went back to what he had been doing before, letting Arthur fuck himself back and forth between the sound and the massager.

Because he hadn’t had a chance to recover completely, it only took a few minutes for Arthur to be back on the brink of climax. Merlin could see the resistance in Arthur’s gaze, though, and let him fight off the orgasm himself for a few moments, knowing Arthur didn’t want to come with the sound in. Not that he would let him - if Arthur lost his control and came, Merlin was ready to quickly remove the sound. He was not going to let Arthur get a urinary tract infection because he’d been careless and let Arthur go too long with the sound in place. He could see in his expression when he was losing the battle with his body, and quickly halted all movement again, biting his lip to suppress his own groan as Arthur bucked under him. Outside of his heats, nothing was nearly as arousing as watching Arthur bound and trying desperately to come, or not to, depending on the situation.

Finally, Merlin took pity on him, and once Arthur had stopped thrashing and was laying fairly still, even if his chest was heaving, he slowly pulled the sound from its place. Arthur let out a long moan as he did, and Merlin dropped it onto the towel, reaching for the hitachi wand again instead. “All right, love, deep breaths,” he said, working with the prostate massager again as he turned to the vibe on and started to run it gently up and down the underside of Arthur’s cock. Too much direct stimulation with the wand would be painful in an unpleasant way, especially with Arthur having already been denied orgasm three times, so he left the vibe on its lowest setting and barely let it touch Arthur’s cock.

Even with minimal stimulation to his cock, Merlin was working his prostate hard, and it wasn’t long before Arthur was climbing towards climax for the fourth time. Edging had always been a favorite for both of them, but normally the denied orgasms had longer periods between them, so three so close together was enough for Merlin to finally relent. He still wasn’t about to take the cock ring off, however. That would be far too easy.

Alphas could orgasm without knotting, but it wasn’t an easy thing to achieve if the Alpha was healthy and virile, like Arthur was. It took a lot of working up to it, but they had done it before, and Merlin knew it was well worth the effort that went into it.

Arthur hovered on the brink of climaxing for a few minutes while the ring prevented him from knotting, his body continuing to fight it, before everything finally seemed to click into place. Merlin pressed the vibrator to the underside of the head of Arthur’s cock, and that seemed to be the tipping point. Arthur’s head dropped back onto the pillow as an almost inhuman sound escaped him, long and low, and his body convulsed and shook, his thighs trembling with the strain of the muscles being locked so tight.

It seemed to go on forever, coming and going in waves. Merlin pulled away the vibrator and shut it off, and just continued to gently massage Arthur’s prostate through it, using his now free hand to stroke himself as he watched. This was why getting Arthur to the point where he could come without knotting was so worth it, the orgasm lasted forever and was powerful and intense, almost on the same level as multiple orgasms for someone female, just less separately defined.

Even ignoring his own sopping wet hole, Merlin only needed a few strokes to pull himself off, groaning and not taking his eyes off Arthur through his own quick, satisfying climax.

Wiping his own come off his hand, Merlin started to pet one of Arthur’s thighs as he slowly began coming down from the extended orgasm. Arthur’s breathing was trembling, he was shaking all over, and Merlin could see the glisten of tear tracks on his cheeks and the wet of tears clumping his lashes together. Merlin slowed his hand with the massager to help ease Arthur down from the climax, and only stopped altogether when Arthur whined and shifted his hips away from it, which was Merlin’s signal that it was no longer soothingly pleasant and had just become too much. He drew it out of Arthur easily, then unlocked the cock ring and pulled it off as well.

“All right, you’re okay, Arthur, love,” Merlin said, speaking as he worked, moving up Arthur’s body. Arthur’s hands were curled into tight fists, and Merlin quickly moved to unbuckle the cuffs, watching as Arthur pulled his hands to his chest as soon as he was released. Merlin shoved his jeans off his hips and left them on the floor, folded up the towel with the dirtied tools on it and set it aside, and then moved down to pull Arthur closer to himself. In the short time he’d moved away, Arthur had curled up onto his side, legs and arms pulled into his chest, and was still shaking, breathing raggedly. Merlin carefully pressed at him until he unfolded and then inserted himself into the space he’d created, bringing Arthur’s face to his neck and running his hands up and down his back gently.

“Shhh,” he soothed as he worked, cooing at Arthur, gentling him, working to bring him back down slowly from such an intense high. Arthur was gone, deep into his headspace, and it always took a little while to start to bring him back. Arthur’s body still responded to Merlin physically, even if his mind wasn’t registering anything yet, and he burrowed closer, seeking the physical comfort and the soothing familiarity of the mixed scents that declared their bond. “Arthur, my gorgeous Alpha, you’re so good, so perfect,” he continued, using his voice to help bring Arthur back to the present. Slowly, it started to work. The trembling lessened, Arthur’s breathing evened out, and the tears slowed and then stopped. “Come on, come back to me, darling Alpha.”

Finally, Arthur pulled back from him just enough to blink up at him, his eyes very blue with the wetness still clinging there. “Merlin,” he said quietly, his voice rough and a bit shaky from all the yelling and moaning he’d done, and Merlin smiled sweetly at him.

“Hey,” he answered quietly, raising a hand to card it through Arthur’s hair. “You all right? You were pretty far gone for a little while there.”

“Mm’okay,” Arthur assured, before ducking his head again to press his nose into the crook of Merlin’s neck, breathing deeply and letting it out slowly. “Very okay,” he added after.

“Good,” Merlin said, falling quiet after and just continuing to pet Arthur, giving him time to continue coming back to himself fully. They laid quietly for about half an hour, maybe a little longer, before Arthur finally huffed and shoved himself up until he was sitting, and Merlin followed suit, keeping his hands on him. “Want me to go fetch dinner, and we can eat here?” he finally asked, and smiled brightly when Arthur turned a pleading gaze on him.

“I would fetch it myself, but I don’t think my legs will hold me right now,” he said quietly, ducking his head and looked up at Merlin through his lashes, quiet and subdued in a way he only ever was just after they finished a scene. It only ever made Merlin that much more eager to take care of him, though, and he leaned forward to press a kiss to Arthur’s brow before standing and heading out of the bedroom. He stopped in the doorway to watch over his shoulder with a smile as Arthur wiped some of the excess lube and come off himself before kicking off the protective top sheet Merlin had laid over the bed earlier in preparation. Once it was on the floor, Arthur slid under the covers and snuggled down with a content sigh.

Merlin would clean up after they had eaten, but for the moment, he was going to fetch their food and coddle his wonderful Alpha a bit more before urging him into the shower, then to sleep.

 ~.~

_The sense of absolute power is… captivating. There’s absolutely nothing like it, nothing like knowing your partner is within your hands, at your mercy, and knowing that they trust you enough to give you that power. They trust you enough to let you hold a sharpened knife to their throat, or be stripped off all their mobility, their senses, or suspended in the air by knots you’ve tied. You could easily injure them severely, or even kill them, with just a little too much pressure, false aim, a slip of the wrist, a moment’s oversight - but they trust you not to. That kind of unending, unquestioning trust puts you on top of the world, where absolutely anything is possible. You give that person what they need, hurt them and protect them, sometimes at the same time, let them trust you wholly and entirely… It’s the most empowering feeling in the world._

 ~.~

Friday evenings were by far by the best day of the week. Merlin made a point to try and get Arthur out to the local dungeon at least once a week, and going on Fridays usually gave them the weekend to recover before they had to deal with people again. Despite their scene on Tuesday, Merlin had already agreed that he and Arthur would perform that night. The owners of the club were friends of theirs, and it was a favor for them as well as something they enjoyed.

They arrived early enough in the night that there were only a few people milling around, chatting with each other. The door to the actual dungeon was closed, but Merlin assumed it would be as inactive as the lobby currently, if there was even anyone inside. It would give them time to chat with a few people, claim their spot, and get everything for their scene set up before the place got busy, though. Which, considering some of the necessary club-owned equipment would have lines later on, was a useful perk.

Their home equipment was lovely and worked perfectly for most things, but there were some that just required things a house couldn’t provide. Like beams sturdy enough to attach ropes to that could hold someone’s weight for an extended period of time. Swings, whipping posts, and anything that involved any sort of suspension just wasn’t easy to do safely without sturdy beams and a winch.

“Well hello,” Isolde greeted as they walked in. Merlin flashed her a bright smile and let Arthur fish out the necessary money to pay for their night. “Still up to that performance, right?”

“Of course,” Arthur answered with a bright grin, leaning over the desk to peck Isolde’s cheek. Isolde and her mate, Tristan, owned Pandora’s Box, and it was Arthur that had initially helped them to find, purchase, and renovate the building for the dungeon. They had offered him a share of the profit, but he had declined and was content to come around when he could. Tristan still protested loudly whenever he was the one signing people in and Arthur insisting on paying the fee for the night, but Isolde had learned it was much more effective to slip the cash back to Merlin at the end of the night once Arthur was half asleep.

“Oh, send someone out to fetch me before you start,” Isolde continued after returning Arthur’s kiss, holding out her hand for Arthur’s first, and then Merlin’s, so she could stamp the back of their hands with a little rose design. She wouldn’t be at the door the whole night, and it was just easier to avoid someone going out and coming back in only to find a different person watching the entrance. “No pair is nearly as fun to watch with a whip as the two of you.”

Merlin could feel Arthur shiver beside him at the mention of what they would be doing that night, and he leaned into his side as he continued to chat with Isolde, Arthur’s arm immediately moving to wrap around his middle. Merlin let himself relax like that, reveling in just being in one of the only places in which they could be Alpha and Omega and Dom and sub without anyone questioning the dynamic. He didn’t have to deal with people expecting him to be subservient to Arthur, there were no comments to Arthur about ‘controlling his Omega’, and no one was surprised to see an Alpha like Arthur submit, wholly and entirely, to his Omega mate.

Arthur probably would have stayed and chatted with Isolde for longer, but another couple came in, and she shooed them away so she could sign the new arrivals in. Before they could get roped into another conversation, Merlin tugged Arthur toward the dungeon, eager to claim a couch.

The dungeon was as empty as Merlin had expected it to be; there were a handful of people milling around, one or two setting up for scenes, but mostly those who were there were just sitting around and talking, waiting for it to fill up and scenes to begin.

“Here, let’s sit here tonight,” Merlin said, leading Arthur toward one of the couches tucked into a corner of the dungeon, other chairs and couches around it forming a little sectioned-off square of the dungeon with only one larger open space out. It was on the far side of the dungeon from the whipping post, with plenty of space for other people to be between them and it and blocking the line of sight. As much as he loved watching whipping scenes, and knew Arthur did as well, after their own time using the whipping post he didn’t need Arthur to continue to be fixated on it. The crack of the whip would be enough of a distraction without adding in the visual, and he needed Arthur to relax after such an intense scene.

“All right,” Arthur agreed easily, swinging the bag off his shoulder and setting it in the corner of the couch. It was unlikely they would get around to using any of the tools in the bag, since a whipping would be enough to exhaust both of them, but it was always better to be prepared just in case. He sat down afterwards, sprawling over half of the couch in typical Alpha fashion. Merlin rolled his eyes at him but sat down next to him anyway, leaning over his lap to fish through the bag until he came up with Arthur’s collar.

“Ready, or do you want to wait a bit?” Merlin asked, pulling the soft leather through his fingers. Once the collar was on, the dynamic between them would shift, and Merlin was content to hang around and talk to the other dungeon patrons for a bit without the Dom/sub undertones between them.

“No, go ahead,” Arthur answered, to no surprise at all from Merlin, and turned on the couch to face him, tipping his chin up in the process and closing his eyes.

“Lovely,” Merlin murmured, because Arthur really did make such a gorgeous picture, and let his fingers slide against the skin of his neck and the underside of his jaw as he fastened the collar with a practiced ease and pulled back.

The leather of the collar was a comfort that Arthur had tried to articulate to Merlin before, but something about his description seemed to always get lost. Though there were subs that would basically nosedive into their headspace when their collar touched their necks, he wasn’t one of them. Rather, there was a moment of deep satisfaction when the leather of the collar fastened around his throat, before he’d just let himself drift in the easy comfort of knowing that while he was collared he didn’t have to make any decisions or solve any problems.

For some time, while more people came into the dungeon, Arthur let himself just lean against Merlin’s shoulder. Eventually he slid down to sit at his feet with his head on Merlin’s knees, enjoying the position and the way Merlin played with his hair, petting him. The comfort had some drawbacks though, as when Merlin stood to start preparing the area for their scene Arthur found himself being pulled from the thoughtless bliss he’d slipped into. There had been a time when he had been much more reluctant to let anything disturb him when he was starting to let himself go, but with Merlin he had learned that it was worth the disturbance to really get the chance to let go completely.

Arthur knew what was expected of him while Merlin gathered the rope and whip from their bag and set up a perimeter with the tape that Isolde left out for such things. There had been questions of comfort the first time they had come to the dungeon together, but now, after all the scenes that they had performed and the safe feeling the dimly lit room inspired, he had no trouble stripping off all his clothing and setting them folded on their little spot of couch. Some subs, Arthur was sure, got a thrill from being able to expose themselves for admiration in the semi-public setting but for him it felt more practical than anything else. If he stripped down to nothing, then nothing would be in the way if Merlin decided to be a little spontaneous with the tools they kept.

Standing naked except for his collar Arthur waited, floating in the haze of his thoughts again, unlikely to come out of it even as he swayed forward with a desire to go to Merlin’s side. He was aware enough to know that people were looking at him and slowly taking seats and positions around the whipping post that Merlin had claimed, but none of that mattered. What mattered was that he could see Merlin adjusting the rope around the dangling ring so he could be quickly bound to it and unfurling their whip with a care that spoke of a deep affection for the tool. He might have been floating, but there was a certain sharp clarity of want that centered in his gut as he watched everything be prepared.

“Arthur.”

Merlin’s voice cut through the haze of his headspace, and Arthur tried to focus on him. He was worried for a moment that he had been unresponsive to his Omega’s first call, but there wasn’t any disappointment or tension in his voice, not beyond that which always came to him when he was getting ready to indulge in a scene, so Arthur relaxed again. Without any further prompting he knew to move forward, mindful of keeping his head up and shoulders back, despite all he wanted being to completely let his body go.

‘Pretty subs have pretty posture.’

Arthur could hear Merlin’s mantra in his head and felt a thrill of pride when his Dom offered no correction, as he would have had he not been standing correct. There was a moment's pause where he tried not to shiver as Merlin really looked him over before he stepped back and nodded up at the ring. It was a familiar motion and Arthur reached up to grasp the ring with both of his hands on either side of the knotted rope Merlin had already fastened there.

The ring was cold under his hands and Arthur focused on that to keep himself from jerking or making noise as Merlin started to loop the rope over his wrists, so it would keep him from falling when his legs inevitably gave out from under him. It was going to happen, it had happened before, and while he would be able to keep his grip on the ring the ropes left him feeling all the more secure. He was particularly grateful for the rope to help him keep steady when Merlin seemed, all of a sudden, to have the whip in his hand, as he dragged the coiled leather up over his chest to hold at his mouth.

Everyone knew what was expected at that moment; it was a well known and widespread ritual throughout the community. Even so, there was still a moment of stillness as the gathering crowd, and Arthur, waited. Merlin let the silence hold for a minute, drawing out the excitement and making sure that he had Arthur’s attention before he had to move and he completely slipped away into his headspace. “Kiss it.” The order finally came, quiet but brokering no question, and Arthur closed his eyes as he leaned forward enough to lip at the whip in a reverent fashion.

Arthur’s eyes snapped open again when the whip was pulled away from him with a sharp twist of Merlin’s wrist, leaving him missing the butter soft feeling at his lips and aching with anticipation as Merlin left to take his place. Still floating, Arthur felt like he had been caught up in a wind and was being dragged up and up, where it was becoming harder to draw a full breath as he waited for the first strike. He would call Merlin cruel if he didn’t love the sweet mix of fear and anticipation that settled in his gut where envy always coiled when he watched others on the post. Arthur was sure Merlin knew about those sick feelings of envy, because he always worked to make sure that Arthur’s experiences at the post were like nothing they had watched, leaving him unable to think enough to compare them even if they had been.

When the first strike came, finally, it burned like a brand across his ass and pulled a shocked shout from Arthur. There were no rules about being silent, not when the whip came out, and especially not when there was a crowd gathered to watch the Omega wielding it take his Alpha apart in the best of ways. Arthur cried out again as the second strike quickly followed the first, crossing over the welt on his left ass cheek to trail from the meat of his thigh to his lower back. After that, Merlin made Arthur wait, left him suspended on the edge of the faraway place where all there was only sensation, refusing to move until a helpless whine started in Arthur’s throat.

The third whip strike sent Arthur into his headspace fully, and though he still knew the longstanding rules that he had to follow and the safe words that Merlin made him recite before they even left their house, aside from those things all he knew were the sensations Merlin was giving him. Where the whip strike itself felt like burning fire, the ache it left behind was more like the harsh sting of frostbite, save for the warmth that he could feel radiating from it. The fourth strike burned, but the fifth which landed in almost the exact same spot stung and left Arthur jerking away and whimpering. Merlin made him wait after that, long enough that the cool roll of tears on his face drew him back some, before putting him under again with a sixth strike.

Seven, eight, nine - Merlin made him wait again, his knuckles white around the ring as he fought to get his legs under him again. He cried out an apology to Merlin when he reminded him that hanging like that could hurt his shoulders. In moments like that, Arthur liked to cry and be corrected, because that meant that nothing was his burden while he was Merlin’s sub, being shown off like the most precious piece of a collection. His knees buckled under him again on stroke ten. He struggled to try and stand back up because if he couldn’t, that meant he was going to be untied soon and he wanted more of the whip.

“Count aloud.” Merlin’s order rang in his ears a second before the whip added to the sensation flooding his brain. It was one of their longstanding rules with the whip, so Arthur had remembered he was supposed to count, and he knew where he was and what to say even if cognitive thought escaped him.

“Eleven,” Arthur sobbed letting his head hang forward as he gave up and just let the rope on the ring keep him from hitting the ground. His stomach and thighs were wet from where his dick had slapped against him in his jerking away from the whip, but he paid it no mind, more focused on the way there was silence, and Merlin wasn’t coming to untie him. For a moment he was completely lost in the haze of sensation and confusion before a final line of fire cracked over the meat of his ass and back and he choked out the final count. “Twelve!”

A whipping was an intense experience, and as much as Merlin wanted to crack the whip a final time, he knew Arthur had reached his limit. Twelve wasn’t bad, though; normally they stopped at ten, and twelve was a lot of lashes even for an experienced sub like Arthur. With a practiced roll of his wrist, Merlin coiled the length of the bullwhip around his hand and moved forward, turning Arthur around with gentle hands, the ring rotating easily. “Good, Arthur,” he murmured, running his free hand up the side of his Alpha’s neck to his cheek, wiping away some of the tear tracks.

Shifting the whip in his hand, Merlin reached up to start undoing the knots in the rope that kept Arthur’s wrists suspended. A few pulls in the right places and it unraveled in his hand. Having done this before, Merlin expected Arthur’s sudden weight as the post was no longer suspending him, but a soft grunt still escaped him as he took the majority of it. “Hey, you with me?” Merlin asked quietly, adjusting his grip on Arthur, the rope and whip in one hand making it a little bit difficult. “I need you to walk with me, love, just a few steps over to the couch. Then I promise you can rest.”

Arthur whined, but there was still a slight shift in his weight, and Merlin smiled and pressed a kiss to his temple. It was a bit slow, Arthur’s movements all sluggish and reluctant, but Merlin guided them across the dungeon the couch. Isolde was standing by the couch already, waiting with a soft blanket spread open in her hands, and Merlin offered her a smile of thanks as she draped it over Arthur’s shoulders. From there, it was fairly simple to sink down onto the couch, and Merlin smiled fondly as Arthur immediately turned to bury himself against his side, face tucked into the crook of Merlin’s neck.

“Enjoy the show?” he asked, tossing the whip and rope on top of their bag, to be seen to properly later, and then turning a little so Arthur could press closer to him and so he could easily see Isolde, who had sat down on the couch on the other side of Arthur.

Isolde smiled, her gaze a little dark with the kind of envy Merlin had grown to recognize in subs, and he figured it wouldn’t be long before she’d be dragging her mate into the dungeon for a little scene of their own. “Oh, of course,” she answered, crossing her legs even as she reached up to adjust the blanket around Arthur, tucking it back over one of his shoulders, since it had slipped off while he’d been nestling down into Merlin’s arms. “Fantastic way to kick off the night, too. There’ll be a line for that whipping post now, I bet. You’ve easily managed to make every sub here wish their Dom was as skilled with a whip as you - myself included!” She laughed, and Merlin grinned as well, rather proud of that particular skill. Accuracy with a bullwhip, especially one as long as the one he used, took a long time to master. He had spent close to two years tormenting Arthur with the cracking of the whip before he’d been confident enough to actually use it on him.

“Oh hush. I’m sure Tristan will indulge you later,” Merlin pointed out, and going off Isolde’s pleased noise, she was expecting it as well.

“He’d better,” she said, arching an eyebrow, and Merlin chuckled again. There would definitely be some sort of punishment coming his way if he didn’t, with that tone. “What about you two, though? It’s still early, you think you’ll be up for anything else once Arthur’s returned to the world of the living?”

Merlin shook his head, though it was with a soft smile, and ran his fingers through Arthur’s hair. “No,” he answered. “He’ll be out for an hour and a half, two hours possibly. We’ll stick around and watch for a while after, until he feels totally like himself again, but I’ll need to get him out of here then. You know how it is,” he added, looking up at Isolde again, and she just smiled innocently. Staying any longer than that would leave Arthur wanting something else, and while it was always hard to deny him, Merlin knew better than to let him indulge in anything else after a whipping. It would be pushing too far, and it was his job to keep Arthur from doing that.

“Yes, I suppose,” Isolde agreed with a heavy sigh, and then looked around the dungeon with an air of reluctance. “Well, I suppose I should get back to the front desk. Mith won’t be in for another hour and I love Gilli, I do, but he’s sort of hopeless on his own still.”

“He’ll learn, give him a little more time,” Merlin said around a laugh, but waved a hand toward the door back out to the front room anyway.

Isolde stood with a roll of her eyes, hands going to her hips. “He’s been here for three months, he ought to know the drill by now,” she said, but it was with a exasperated fondness. “I know he still doesn’t recognize some of the regulars, but really, what is so hard about asking people that don’t look familiar whether or not they’ve been here before?”

Merlin laughed and started to respond, but Isolde blew him a kiss and then started walking away, mumbling under her breath. Shaking his head slightly, amused, Merlin turned his attention back to Arthur, who had somehow managed to curl into himself enough that he was practically in Merlin’s lap, tucked against his chest, despite the fact that he was far bulkier and broader than Merlin.

“All right?” he asked, pitching his voice low and crooning. Arthur made a noise high in his throat and nuzzled against the side of his neck, but otherwise didn’t respond. Content with that, Merlin let his cheek rest on Arthur’s hair, scratching his nails lightly against the nape of his neck in a slow, repetitive movement, a consistent touch and rhythm to help ground Arthur until he fell asleep. On another day he would have drawn his nails up and down over his spine, beneath the blanket, but the last thing he wanted to do now was aggravate the angry red welts that were lacing Arthur’s back. He’d spread an ointment on them when they got home, to soothe the burn and as a precaution to prevent infection, just in case, even though he hadn’t broken the skin anywhere.

For the moment, he settled down in the couch a little more, content to keep half an eye on the other scenes that were starting up while Arthur relaxed in his headspace. Quiet praise slipped from him easily as he brushed his fingers through Arthur’s hair, and the responses from Arthur, though they were never words, just slight noises, were enough to assure Merlin that he was all right. Eventually, they tapered off into nothing, and Arthur was completely lax against him, having shifted from his headspace into sleep. Merlin adjusted the blanket around him again, tucking it in, and pressed a kiss into his hair. One Dom had her sub strapped to a circular spiderweb-like contraption, a flogger in one hand and a violet wand in the other, and Merlin gave them his full attention while Arthur slept. He’d wake him in about an hour, have him dress, remove the collar, and then get them both home. For now, though…

“Love you, Arthur.”

**Author's Note:**

> There you go guys! Hope you enjoyed! We wanted to add a little more in depth, informed BDSM to this fandom. And it's not over! This is just the beginning of the series. There will, hopefully, be plenty of follow-ups in the future that explore more of Merlin and Arthur's life and all the different kinks they enjoy. If there's something you desperately want to see, let me know, and there's a possibility it may end up being written.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: This by no means meant to act as any sort of instruction manual for how BDSM works. Please please please for the love of whatever deity or deities you hold in esteem, do not attempt to do this stuff without being formally trained. No matter how good your intentions are, an untrained hand is going to slip up and you will end up hurting your partner, and even if you manage not to, you won't be able to provide proper aftercare and both subdrop and Domdrop are dangerous. Merlin and Arthur are both trained in this fic.


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